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A salute to veterans: Rowan events to mark Veterans' Week, Nov. 12-17

A salute to veterans: Rowan events to mark Veterans' Week, Nov. 12-17

A guest talk by retired Army Colonel Dennis W. Devery on Monday, Nov. 12, will kick off Veterans’ Week observances at Rowan University.

November 8, 2012

A guest talk by retired Army Colonel Dennis W. Devery on Monday, Nov. 12, will kick off Veterans’ Week observances at Rowan University.

Devery, formerly commander of the Joint Training and Training Development Center at Fort Dix, will speak at 3:30 p.m. in the Pit of Rowan’s Chamberlain Student Center as Rowan students, faculty, staff and administrators pay tribute to the service and sacrifices of our nation’s veterans. Veterans’ Week at Rowan will run Nov. 12-17.

A doctoral student at Rowan, Devery is vice president for planning and research at Thomas Edison State College. His distinguished military career spanned three decades. In his last military assignment at Fort Dix, he led a team of training experts that provided strategic, operational and tactical level instruction to U.S. military forces, state and federal law enforcement professionals and various allied military forces. He and his team developed and implemented training programs that integrated the virtual, constructive and live training environments into cohesive instructional programs.

Prior to that assignment, Devery was assigned as the deputy director/chief of staff of the Afghan National Security Forces Development Assistance Bureau, ISAF Joint Command, stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan. He developed and implemented strategies to staff, equip and train the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and advised senior U.S., TATO and Afghan civilians and military leaders on the grown and development of Afghan National Security Forces.

From 2008-2009, Devery was chief of staff of the New Jersey Army National Guard, overseeing the daily operation of 1,000 full-time Army National Guard personnel.

Trained as a helicopter instructor pilot, infantry officer, tank commander and paratrooper after he was commissioned through ROTC at Rider College in 1984, Devery was the senior officer on duty at the New Jersey Aviation Facility on Sept. 11, 2001. With NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), he established procedures for clearing aircraft into and out of New York City and coordinated aircraft support for the FBI and New Jersey State Police during the attacks.

Devery left full-time military service in 1999. An adjunct political science professor at Rutgers University, he is a member of Rowan’s Veterans Advisory Council.

Also during the Veterans’ Week kick-off event, Kathy Rozanski, director of Alumni Affairs at Rowan, will receive the Second Annual Rowan University Veterans Ambassador Award. The award recognizes a Rowan faculty or staff member who demonstrates unwavering support to the University’s veterans.

The kick-off of the week will coincide with the kick-off of Toys for Tots at Rowan. The University community is being asked to donate new unwrapped toys for children for the program, which is led by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Additional events throughout Veterans’ Week include:

Monday, Nov. 12

Film screening of “The Lioness,” 7 p.m., Room 221, Chamberlain Student Center. The film, a documentary, follows five female soldiers who served in Iraq.

Tuesday, Nov. 13, and Thursday, Nov. 15

From 9 a.m.-2 p.m., the Veterans’ Affairs Office will collect care package items for active duty servicemen and servicewomen in Room 304 of Savitz Hall. Rowan community members have been asked to contribute items ranging from gum and baby wipes to razors, cough drops, powdered drink mixes and pens, pencils and envelopes.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

Members of Rowan’s Veteran Students Organization will read to children in the Early Childhood Demonstration Center in James Hall, 10:30 a.m.

Friday, Nov. 16

A Military and Veteran Information Day will be held from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the second floor atrium of Savitz Hall.

Saturday, Nov. 17

Rowan’s Ice Hockey team will present a Veterans’ Appreciation Day at 8:15 p.m. at Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell. Proceeds will support Toys for Tots, A Lift for a Vet, and the Dombroski Veterans’ Regalia Fund, which helps pay for graduation caps and gowns for Rowan veterans who are earning their degrees.